Thanks for the link. I really hope they get this sorted out soon and we get some sort of reasonable laws. It sounds from the press conference last night that Obama wants to make it illegal to deny coverage because of preexisting conditions or to drop coverage when you get too sick. The preexisting condition thing would be great -- if I hadn't had continuous health coverage since I was a kid, I would probably be denied. If I lose my insurance, I probably wouldn't be able to get insurance again. Chronic repetitive stress injury? Nobody wants to pay for that. That one time a rheumatologist thought I might have some form of inflammatory arthritis? That's on my record, even though it ended up not being inflammatory arthritis. Hypothyroidism is a common and easily treatable condition, but I do still have to have bloodwork done every year and take two medications every day for it.
Ben actively avoids going to the doctor even if he thinks he is injured or sick, because he's afraid that if they find something and he loses his job he'll be uninsurable. How far back in the records do they go anyway? Will they deny him because once when he was a kid he had a headache so massive that he couldn't talk right and he had to go to the ER to make sure he wasn't having a stroke?
The whole thing is a mess. I actually have really good health insurance right now, but the fact is that I'm not sure I want to keep working full-time for the rest of my life, and I have no guarantee that I won't get fired at any moment. My parents are lucky because my dad was a government employee and his retirement package includes fully covered health care with Kaiser. They don't even have copays or pay any premiums -- anything wrong, go to Kaiser, and get it treated for free with the latest and greatest technology. If everyone had that I think it would be the best thing. I don't care if I have to pay more taxes. Think of how much I'm spending on my healthcare -- I easily spend several hundred dollars a year on prescription copays -- and pretend that was taxes instead. No biggie.
Edit -- add in to the money I spend on prescription copays the money I spend on premiums for health insurance. At the moment it's about $1050/year, but it's gone up every year I've worked here. That's just for health, not including dental, vision, or disability.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-07-23 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-23 05:06 pm (UTC)Ben actively avoids going to the doctor even if he thinks he is injured or sick, because he's afraid that if they find something and he loses his job he'll be uninsurable. How far back in the records do they go anyway? Will they deny him because once when he was a kid he had a headache so massive that he couldn't talk right and he had to go to the ER to make sure he wasn't having a stroke?
The whole thing is a mess. I actually have really good health insurance right now, but the fact is that I'm not sure I want to keep working full-time for the rest of my life, and I have no guarantee that I won't get fired at any moment. My parents are lucky because my dad was a government employee and his retirement package includes fully covered health care with Kaiser. They don't even have copays or pay any premiums -- anything wrong, go to Kaiser, and get it treated for free with the latest and greatest technology. If everyone had that I think it would be the best thing. I don't care if I have to pay more taxes. Think of how much I'm spending on my healthcare -- I easily spend several hundred dollars a year on prescription copays -- and pretend that was taxes instead. No biggie.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-23 05:10 pm (UTC)